


simplicity

by kiyala



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-12
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-05-13 10:26:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5704267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiyala/pseuds/kiyala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iwaizumi finds Oikawa sitting up late in the Slytherin common room.</p>
            </blockquote>





	simplicity

It's well past midnight and Oikawa's four-poster bed is empty. Iwaizumi rubs his eyes blearily, sighing to himself. Hanamaki and Matsukawa sleep on, undisturbed as Iwaizumi gets out of bed, pulling his night robe on and wrapping it tightly around his waist, sliding his feet into his slippers, and going downstairs to the common room.

The Slytherin common room is a cold place at this time of night, despite the fireplace in the corner. Iwaizumi passes it, noting the small fire that's burning away, no doubt having been tended to by a house elf realising that one of the students is still awake. Two now, he supposes, looking around.

He finds Oikawa sitting by the benches against the thick glass window that looks out into the bottom of the lake. There are lights somewhere in the water and Iwaizumi doesn't really know where they're coming from, whether they're magic, or a creature he hasn't learned about yet, or perhaps both. They provide enough illumination that Oikawa is silhouetted against the glass, though, wrapped in his night robe as well, even though the sleeves are pulled back to his elbows.

There's a mermaid floating by the window and Iwaizumi's first reaction is to be irritated at Oikawa for staying up late just to flirt—and with such a dangerous creature, no less—but then he realises that they're talking. Their hands are moving, signing at each other, and Iwaizumi stays right where he is, not sure what they're talking about, but suddenly feeling reluctant to interrupt.

Every time he's seen the mermaids swim past the windowed section of their common room, they look threatening, like they view the students as trespassers and Iwaizumi has, from time to time, felt like they're justified in that belief. An entire quarter of the student body living under the lake makes just about as much sense as another quarter living in somewhere like the Forbidden Forest, and he wonders, not for the first time, what Salazar Slytherin was thinking when he decided on this, of all places.

The mermaid talking to Oikawa looks friendly enough. She still has pointed teeth, still has fins that are sharp enough to cut into human flesh. But she's smiling, mouthing words as she signs. She says something that makes Oikawa chuckle and it's a soft, happy sound that makes Iwaizumi smile on reflex. He loves Oikawa's genuine laughs, his genuine smiles, when he isn't pretending, isn't mocking, when he's comfortable enough to be who he is, and no one else.

The mermaid looks over at Iwaizumi, then back at Oikawa, signing something quickly to him. Oikawa looks over his shoulder, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, blinking at Iwaizumi.

It's too late to pretend he's not here now. Iwaizumi walks over to the bench where Oikawa is sitting, standing beside him.

"It's late, Oikawa," he says quietly.

"I know. Late at night is the only time I can have conversations without being interrupted by other people. I was asking for advice on my Care of Magical Creatures essay."

"Liar," Iwaizumi says, sitting down beside Oikawa. He nods in greeting at the mermaid, who is still floating there. She nods in return, then signs at Oikawa, waving before she swims off. Iwaizumi watches her go. "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt."

"We were done talking anyway," Oikawa replies, shaking his head. "I _was_ asking her for advice, though."

"Uh huh," Iwaizumi replies. "I didn't know you could sign."

"When I was three, I stopped talking for an entire month because I didn't feel like it," Oikawa says, gazing out into the water. "My mother tried all kinds of spells and potions to help with the words, but my father just sat me down and taught me how to sign."

"I didn't know that," Iwaizumi says softly. Here, he thought he knew everything there was to know about Oikawa. He doesn't know how to feel about that not being the case, but it probably shouldn't upset him as much as it does.

"I always thought it was interesting," Oikawa murmurs, not looking at Iwaizumi. "The way the magical community approaches a problem, compared to how muggles do. You get that too, don't you?"

In first year, they'd made fast friends due to the fact that they were both half-bloods in Slytherin. They have their own muggle in-jokes, their own muggle tricks to simplify things that magic only complicates. They have each other.

"Yeah," Iwaizumi agrees. "Sometimes one way is easier than the other. It's nice to have both options."

Oikawa takes a deep breath, shifting on the bench, suddenly looking uncomfortable. "We're making amortentia in Potions tomorrow."

"I know that," Iwaizumi says slowly. "We've done it before, though, remember? In fifth year—"

"I remember the smell of it," Oikawa tells him, his voice quieter. "The fresh grass of a quidditch field. Coffee. And…"

"And…?" Iwaizumi prompts, but he's sure he knows the third smell, because he's sure it's the same as the third smell of his own amortentia.

Oikawa exhales loudly, turning away from Iwaizumi. "I was asking the mermaid for advice, because I didn't know how to say something, but maybe I just wanted to vent to her, you know? Just talk to someone who isn't involved, who doesn't see it every day—"

He's rambling. Deflecting. It's a trick that doesn't work on Iwaizumi, and hasn't for years. When Iwaizumi opens his mouth to point that out, though, he notices the way Oikawa's hands are shaking.

"I remember the smell of amortentia too," Iwaizumi tries. "Broom polish. Muggle medical spray. That muggle candy shop we go to together, every time we're home for the holidays."

Oikawa blinks at him. "Do you mean…?"

"It's going to smell the same to me tomorrow too," Iwaizumi says, forcing himself to keep his tone light and casual. "It's been two years, but it won't have changed a single bit. It's probably been more than two years, but…"

"Hajime."

Falling silent, Iwaizumi looks up. Oikawa takes his hand, pressing their palms together and linking their fingers.

"Third year," Oikawa tells him. "When you punched a seventh year for bullying a first year muggle-born."

"It's not a competition," Iwaizumi huffs, and Oikawa laughs quietly.

"You're only saying that because you lost, didn't you?"

"Third year," Iwaizumi replies. "When you hexed that seventh year so I wouldn't be alone in detention."

Oikawa laughs again, the genuine, delighted laugh that Iwaizumi loves so much. They bump their shoulders together, still holding hands.

"Let's go back to sleep," Iwaizumi murmurs, and Oikawa nods.

They hold hands the entire way back to their dormitory, letting go only so they can get into their own beds. Before letting go, though, Oikawa tugs Iwaizumi closer, kissing the corner of his mouth.

Iwaizumi lies awake in bed for a good half hour afterwards, trying to get the grin off his face. He's tired the next morning, but makes his amortentia without a problem when they're in Potions. It smells exactly the way he expects it to, telling him something he already knows, but he shares a small grin with Oikawa anyway, hands brushing against each other under their bench.


End file.
